PGP problems

[Brian Morrison]

On Wed, 2 Aug 2000 06:42:00 -0700, Steve Lamb wrote:

>On Wed, Aug 02, 2000 at 10:30:02AM +0100, Brian Morrison wrote:
>> Even 56 bit keys would do for most cases, it increases the decryption effort
>> required enormously.
>
>    Erm....  Welll, considering the last RC5 (or was it DES) 56bit key effort
>was cracked in, what 2-3 days with 1/2 the total work performed by one machine
>I'd say that isn't the case if they target an individual sending to certain
>other individuals.

OK, well remember that the DES challenge involved known plain text in
the first 64 octets. I'm simply suggesting that 56 bits would be enough
to make casual trawling for keywords *much* harder, I'm aware that
specific targeting would easily break this, but most of the time it
isn't clear what is being looked for.

-- 
Brian Morrison                                  bdm@fenrir.demon.co.uk
              do you know how far this has gone?
               just how damaged have I become?
                                      'Even Deeper' by Nine Inch Nails